Wildlife

The Kenai Eagle Cam is back, and bald eagles could be hatching before the end of the month

Two bald eagles named Aurora and Redoubt have produced two eggs, and soon a worldwide audience will be able to see chicks hatching. To view the live camera feed, visit the City of Kenai’s YouTube channel, Kenai Eagle Cam, which is up and running on the city of Kenai website.

The eggs are expected to hatch sometime between May 28 and June 2, according to a city of Kenai spokeswoman.

A partnership between City of Kenai and the Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center, the eagle cam first went live in 2017. In that first summer, it attracted millions of online views.

Eagles returned to the nest in 2018, but didn’t return in 2019. They are back this year, “and we decided to name them,” spokeswoman Christine Cunningham said.

“We think it’s exciting, because it’s a pair of wild eagles, and we’re glad they’re back," she said.

In truth, it’s not certain if this year’s pair is the same pair that hatched two eggs in 2017 and two eggs in 2018.

Nor is anyone certain why there were no eagles in 2019, although Dan Castimore, the IT manager for the City of Kenai, said a nest was spotted in 2019 with an active pair about 100 meters from the current site.

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Details about the nest’s location aren’t available, because the city doesn’t want people to go looking for the birds, Cunningham said.

The female, Aurora, laid her first egg at 6:05 p.m. on April 22. A second egg came three days later, at 9:04 p.m. on April 25. Aurora is the bigger of the two birds, something Castimore said is easy to spot when both birds are in the nest.

Incubation typically lasts about 35 days.

Aurora and Redoubt take turns protecting the eggs while the other gathers material to shore up the nest. The nest is about half the size it was in 2018, Cunningham said.

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Beth Bragg

Beth Bragg wrote about sports and other topics for the ADN for more than 35 years, much of it as sports editor. She retired in October 2021. She's contributing coverage of Alaskans involved in the 2022 Winter Olympics.

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